This invention relates to improvements in the field of dentistry. In particular, this invention relates to an improved dental mirror and method of using same.
In dentistry, there are relatively few choices when it comes to mouth mirrors. Essentially, such mirrors are limited to those having a round mirrored surface. This configuration has a number of advantages. It is easy and inexpensive to make. It also allows the mirror to be used in a wide range of dental applications. This configuration also has a number of drawbacks.
One drawback with conventional dental mouth mirrors is that the number of teeth which may be viewed using a conventional round mirror is extremely limited. For example, use of a conventional round mirror to view the abutment teeth during bridge preparation allows viewing of only 2 to 2 1/2 teeth. This limited field of vision requires the operator to move the mirror axially with respect to the handle, in order to view the necessary surfaces of the teeth required for bridge preparation. Of course, the operator cannot see all the teeth involved in bridge preparation at once.
Another drawback with conventional round dental mouth mirrors is that there is no way that an operator can determine, through the use of such mirror alone, whether the process of reduction of teeth has reached the desired level. For example, in preparing the abutment teeth for a level. For example, in preparing the abutment teeth for a bridge, the anterior and posterior abutments of the abutment teeth must be reduced to parallelism in order for the bridge to fit. Using the conventional mouth mirror, the reduction process must be halted, the mouth mirror must be removed from the mouth of the patient and the parallelism must be determined by placing the bridge or a template into the patient's mouth and into the desired location. If the abutment surfaces are not parallel, more reduction is needed and the process must be repeated for successive iterations until parallelism is reached. This trial and error process is time consuming and can be extremely fatiguing for the operator and the patient.
Another example of the drawbacks of conventional dental mouth mirrors is in cosmetic dentistry, such as application of porcelain anterior veneer facings. In that particular process, the operator must reduce the labial surfaces of the anterior teeth in a uniform manner to accept a uniform application of laminants. Use of a conventional round mouth mirror does not enable the operator to see all six of the anterior teeth. In addition, the operator has no guide by which to reduce the labial surfaces in a uniform manner. Accordingly, the operator must reduce a particular tooth surface by guessing. Then the operator must move the mirror so as to view various portions of the anterior teeth for comparison. Only by performing a number of iterations of this process can the operator achieve uniform reduction.
Therefore, the conventional round mouth mirror of the prior art suffers from three identifiable disadvantages. First, its field of view is limited. Second, it has no reference means by which the operator can determine when and if tooth reduction has achieved the desired state. Third, it requires the operator to move the mirror handle axially to change the field of view.